


Amelan

by RavenHearted



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Family, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-20
Updated: 2015-07-20
Packaged: 2018-04-10 05:23:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4378886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenHearted/pseuds/RavenHearted
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Day 1 short for Inquisitor's Week on tumblr. Inquisitor Aryll misses the bow she used to hunt with, lost after the Conclave, and finally finds something almost as good. Almost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Amelan

Aryll held the bow in her hands, admiring the care and craftsmanship with which it had been made. When she had acquired it through trade with the Dalish smith on the plains, she knew this was the one, the bow that she had been searching for. The artistry in the woodwork was impressive, the ends twisting outwards like the branches of a tree, while still keeping the power and functionality that she desired. With Dagna’s help, it now hummed with the magical energy of a powerful demon-slaying rune that she had been saving for this occasion, giving her a powerful edge next time she went out in the field.

Her hunt for the perfect bow had started after the disaster at the Conclave. Aryll woke unarmed and confused, and was later disappointed to learn that her precious bow had been lost with little hope of retrieving it. It was the best one she’d ever had, feeling like an extension of herself. Its shots were smooth as silk, and with the perfect grip, length, and fine artistry, she thought it would be the best bow she ever owned.

On the day Aryll became a hunter, her face still aching from the fresh earned _vallaslin_ , her father had given it  to her to honor her passage into adulthood. She remembered being barely eighteen, giddy with excitement after all the traditions and fanfare had passed, and being summoned by her father into his humble workshop. It smelled of smoke from the forge and lacquered wood from newly crafted ironbark. Her father sat on his creaky old bench, making wood carvings for the children with leftover chunks of wood.

When she was a little girl, she would sit for hours watching him mold jagged blocks of wood into beautiful bows. Some had wings like birds, others protrusions resembling halla antlers, and some of simple shape with patterns carved into the woodwork. When he was done, he would sit her on his lap and carve a little animal for her to play with while telling her elven legends and stories of the Creators.

Age had caught up with him, leaving silver stains in his short ginger hair and slight wrinkles on his face, from years of laughter and furrowing his brow while he worked the forge, deep in concentration. It had not diminished his jolly spirit, however. When she entered his small working area, he exclaimed, “There’s my little girl!” and wrapped her up into a giant bear hug.

“I have a present for you, _ma’da’ean_.”  With such great enthusiasm, he reached into his storage bin and from the top, grabbed the most beautiful bow Aryll had ever seen. He placed it into her hands, grinning from ear to ear. It had her favorite halla antler carvings on the sides, swirling in patterns as elegant as the creatures themselves.  From the ends, it looked as though tree branches grew from the bow, like it were a small tree itself. She could tell he spent many days working on this, with even more care than he normally gave his works.

“Your two favorite things, trees and halla,” he said with a merry laugh. “I’ve been calling it _Amelan_. You’ll be a protector of our clan from now on, Aryll. It’s only fitting that you have a bow named for it.”

Moved beyond words, she stood there with her mouth hanging open and  tears forming in her eyes. It was the most wonderful gift anyone had ever given her. She set it gently on the bench before giving him another massive hug.

“It’s so beautiful, papa, thank you.”

From that day on, she took _Amelan_ with her wherever she went. It felled countless beasts, both those that threatened her clan and others hunted for food and materials. It was so finely crafted it lasted for a long while, up until the Conclave. It was perhaps the only true comfort she hand when her feet stood on the cold Ferelden soil of Haven. And in the chaos that ensued, it had been lost forever.

Nothing could match the beauty and power of _Amelan_ , not to mention the sentimental value it had possessed. But this bow that she held in her hands was almost as perfect. Almost. Crafted by some Dalish craftsman she barely knew, it perhaps lacked the custom make that her old bow had, but it was exactly what she needed, packing the extra punch against the many demons she so often encountered.

She made it her own by sitting in her spot in the garden, carving shapes into the wood. Vines and halla antlers and branches decorated the bow. When finished, she held it up to

admire her own handiwork, a skill she had learned from her father. She was no craftsman, but she had learned enough from watching him work as all those years ago.

Aryll sat there in the garden at dusk, listening to the crickets chirp as the sun sank below the horizon, thinking of what to call it.

“ _Ghi’myelan_ ,” she whispered to the wind when it came to her. It felt a little simple, calling it ‘hunter’, but Aryll was a woman who enjoyed simplicity. And she was a hunter no longer, but the Inquisitor, a protector on a much larger scale. With each passing day, she lost more and more of her heritage, so steeped in human customs and ideals, playing by their rules to win this war and keep the world safe for her people. This bow would remind her of where she came from, and who she used to be: a simple hunter, with simple cares.

**Author's Note:**

> Look at me, actually participating in the fandom instead of being a casual observer. This had been a headcanon of mine for a while so it's nice to be able to write it out. 
> 
> ma’da’ean = my little bird. 
> 
> All the elvish words are from fenxshiral's awesome elvish dictionary thingie. It's a great resource.


End file.
